Cover image: UNICEF Cambodia/2020/Charles Garrett

The course is relevant and open to everyone in all regions, including non-UNICEF staff.


About this course 

The goals of the learning programme are to:

  1. Build skills, knowledge and confidence to engage with public finance for children - nutrition: shaping leaders who are equipped with timely and relevant knowledge and tools to develop and implement planning, advocacy and programming related to PF4C-N, so they are able to engage in policy dialogue and design and implement programming activities aimed at translating sector strategies into budget allocations and effective spending; and 
  2. Contribute effectively to the strengthening of the national budgetary framework and PFM systems to sustain and scale up overall programme results, particularly for the most vulnerable children and their families.

Learning objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  • Interpret key concepts heard or read in main policy or political discourses or processes
  • Connect the dots to detect signs of PFM-related barriers to results in nutrition or cross-sectorally
  • Draft terms of reference to further investigate PFM problems and identify solutions
  • Engage effectively in budget processes through well-timed and evidence-informed PF4C-N interventions as well as mapping of key actors/powers and partners
  • Craft high-level communication messages to raise awareness or alerts on issues with clear-cut or potentially significant implications for nutrition, using expenditure analysis tools.

Audience

UNICEF staff and those interested in advancing the nutrition agenda and understanding how public financing can be used to achieve this. UNICEF staff who are interested in further study in this area may also enroll in the Global Public Finance for Children Course.


The course content incorporates illustrations and cases from Asia and the Pacific. Nevertheless, it includes fundamental concepts and principles that have universal relevance to a diverse and international audience and can be effectively applied worldwide.

Length

Each module should take you approximately one hour to complete. We expect that the entirety of the course will therefore take between 10 and 15 hours to complete, depending on your unique work style and pace.

Methodology

This is an asynchronous self-paced course – you can choose to take it all in one day, over a week or during a longer period of time.

Structure

The content of the course is presented in nine interactive modules: 

  1. Situating the PF4C-N Learning Programme
  2. Budget Cycle Entry Points for Nutrition
  3. Fully Costing a Strategic Plan
  4. Fiscal Space and Financing for Nutrition
  5. Budget and Expenditure Tracking
  6. Decentralisation
  7. Universal Health Coverage and Nutrition
  8. Investment Cases and Value for Money in Nutrition
  9. Equity

Acknowledgements

This course was developed by the Nutrition and Social Policy Sections at the UNICEF East Asia & Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO) and Genesis Analytics.

Lead content developers: Mueni Mutunga, Christina Popivanova, Roland Kupka and Andrea Rossi (UNICEF EAPRO), Tomas Lievens, Katie Bullman (Genesis Analytics)

Technical contributors: Afeef Mahmoud, Helen Connolly

Instructional designers: Michaela Ho (Genesis Analytics)

A special thanks is extended to governments and UNICEF country offices in East Asia and the Pacific, and South Asia for technical review, input, and valuable feedback.

Contact details

Mueni Mutunga

Regional Nutrition Specialist

East Asia and Pacific Regional Office

Nutrition section

mmutunga@unicef.org

In case of any technical issues, please contact the Agora Team at this support request form.